


Dream of a Nightmare

by Nativestar



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23793448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nativestar/pseuds/Nativestar
Summary: You don't get to mix concussions and psychotropic drugs without consequences.  Missing scene for 4x10 Tesla + Bell + Edison + Mac.
Comments: 21
Kudos: 79





	Dream of a Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> This is a whumpier, hopefully slightly less medically inaccurate missing scene for the episode. I also wanted to attempt an explanation of the guy with a head injury being put in a dentist's chair. Set after the final scene in the lab but before Desi makes soup.

Mac pushed away from the table and the world spun sickeningly. His headache spiked and darkness crept across his vision.

Something crashed into his right side, and he thinks he might have fallen.

He heard startled voices, calling his name, asking him to---

* * *

“Mac?”

He grunted. Or tried to at least. He was fairly certain he made a noise that acknowledged he was listening.

“You with me?”

“Yeah.” He replied quietly. “What happened?”

“You passed out.”

He opened his eyes. Bozer was sat leaning forward on a chair, worry written across his face.

“You had us worried.”

“Sorry.” Mac whispered.

“That’s okay. How are you feeling?”

Mac closed his eyes.

“Like roadkill, my head is pounding.”

“What?” Riley’s voice answered.

Mac opened his eyes again. Riley was in the seat next to his bed now.

“If you’re in pain, I can go get a nurse.” She offered.

“You’re not Bozer.” Mac didn’t answer her. Bozer was no where in the room. Mac was sure he’d been speaking to Bozer a moment ago.

“No, I’m not. I’m going to get someone, Mac.” She stood, looking extremely worried.

“No, don’t, I’m fine.” Mac said. “I swear Bozer was just here, I was talking to him.”

“Bozer was here an hour ago, he said you fell asleep in the middle of your conversation.” Riley explained the lost time. “He pretended to be offended but he was mostly relieved you’d woken up, you scared him, Mac.”

“Sorry.” Mac murmured. “I think Bozer said the same thing.”

“Yeah, you scared all of us.” Riley said reaching for his hand and squeezing it.

“What’s going on with me?” Mac asked. “Can I leave now that I’m awake?”

“You really think you’re up to getting out of bed?” Riley countered.

“Sure, I..” Mac got as far as levering his head up off the pillow and resting on his elbows before he realised it was a terrible idea. The room started looping and he felt sick. He carefully laid back down. “Yeah, maybe not just yet.”

“Get some rest, Mac. The docs want to keep you at least overnight for observation, it’ll go quicker if you sleep.”

“I’ve slept enough.” Mac complained. “But I might rest my eyes a moment.”

He never heard Riley’s reply.

* * *

Mac flinched awake when he felt a warm hand on his arm.

“Easy Mac,” Matty was sat on the chair next to his bed this time while a nurse stood on the other side.

“I’m sorry to wake you, Mr Macgyver, I’m Toby, I just need to take a set of vitals.” He explained and waited for Mac to nod his consent.

Toby quickly and efficiently took his blood pressure and temperature and noted down some information from the monitor behind Mac. While he did that, Mac did his own self assessment. His headache was down to a dull roar, no doubt helped by whatever was in the IV taped to his arm. He was tired, but that was normal for him these days. At least he now felt like he could keep his eyes open for more than five minutes at a time.

“All done.” Said Toby. “Doctor Foster will be doing her rounds shortly, is there anything you need or want to ask before then?”

“No, thank you.” Mac said and then he was alone with Matty. “What actually happened?” He asked her. “I think I asked earlier but I was little out of it.”

“In layman’s terms, you used up the last of your adrenaline reserves and collapsed on us.”

“Oh.”

“Concussions and psychotropic drugs don’t mix well together. Something your doctor was not pleased about when she found out about it.” She said drily.

Mac winced. He was glad he’d been unconscious for that conversation. They hadn’t exactly kept her in the loop.

“Fortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any lasting damage. She wants to keep you for observation but she said you can probably go home tomorrow as long as you promise to get some rest. And Mac?” She waited until Mac looked at her. “That means actual rest, in your bed or on the sofa. No working on air scrubbers.”

“Right. Rest.” Mac agreed absently. More time in his own head with his own thoughts. Wonderful. At least he’d have more privacy at home. Just Desi and Riley. No heart monitors, IV’s or vital checks. And although the hospital bed was more comfortable than Bozer’s dentist’s chair, nothing beat your own bed.

It had been just his luck that as he was brought into medical so was another TAC team with serious injuries. The Phoenix’s doctors were excellent but their facilities weren’t designed to handle that many trauma cases. They’d decided he’d be too exposed and vulnerable in a hospital with Codex around so Bozer had suggested the remote telemetry chair he’d been working on; it could non-invasively and wirelessly monitor Mac’s vitals and the lab was a quieter space to recover.

“How’s Ramirez’s team?”

“No fatalities, thankfully. Jones and Cassidy had to be transferred for surgery but are expected to make full recoveries.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“It is.” Matty agreed. “It was good we had that chair, it performed perfectly, even Cheryl was impressed and Russ has promised Bozer extra funding for the project.”

  
“That’s great.” He remembered Bozer had been so proud when he’d tested it on Mac a few weeks ago. Mac smiled as he also remembered the debate afterwards on whether it should be called a tricorder chair or a biobed. “He should be pleased with the extra funds.”

“He was, but only once he knew you were going to be okay.”

“I’m sorry I worried everyone.” Mac said sincerely.

She shook her head. “It’s not you who should be apologising.”

He frowned. Matty shifted in her chair and when she met his eyes, he recognised the look on her face, he’d seen it in the mirror enough times recently.

“It’s not your fault, Matty. You didn’t give me a concussion and you didn’t force me to take that drug.”

“No, but you wouldn’t have even known about it if it wasn’t for me.” She pointed out. “I know this job isn’t without its risks and part of my job is make the tough choices that sometimes puts my agents lives on the line but I was too focused on the risk of the mission failing. And not enough on the risk for you. You could have died, Mac.”

“It was an acceptable risk.”

“Maybe.” Matty cautiously agreed. “But we should have looked at other options instead of going straight to the dangerous experimental drug.”

“We couldn’t afford to wait.”

“We also can’t afford to lose you. _I_ can’t afford to lose you.” Matty’s eyes were soft, and Mac realised she wasn’t speaking as his boss any more.

“You didn’t, Matty.” He tried to reassure her. “As much as I appreciate your concern, I don’t need to be protected. I keep telling you all that.”

“You don’t _want_ to be protected.” Matty corrected quietly. “But that’s not entirely up to you. I have a duty of care for all my agents, and I also hope that after all these years, you know that you’re not _just_ an agent to me.”

He nodded and blinked rapidly, holding back tears, Matty’s concern bordered way too close to maternal for Mac to cope with right now. He’d cried in front of enough people recently, he didn’t want to add Matty to the list, even if he knew that she’d never judge him or hold it against him.

“I’m pretty tired, Matty.” He managed with a shaky voice.

“Okay, I’ll let you get some rest.” She said as she slipped off the chair and Mac was grateful that she closed the door on her way out.

* * *

When Mac woke up again things were very different. And not in a good way.

The first thing he noticed was that he was cold. They’d taken his scrubs and he was wearing a flimsy, short gown, he didn’t have a sheet or blanket to cover him neither. He opened his eyes and frowned at the oxygen mask on his face, he hated masks, he far preferred a nasal cannula and his doctors knew it. He didn’t know why he had it now when he hadn’t needed it before, but he was breathing fast and the air felt too thin despite the extra oxygen.

He tried to take it off, but couldn’t. His hand wouldn’t move. No. His hand _couldn’t_ move. He looked down. Both his hands and feet had been firmly secured in soft restraints.

_What happened? What did I do?_

He was also connected to a lot more equipment. When he’d moved his head he’d felt a set of electrodes attached to his scalp. He had a lot more leads connected to his chest as well. The sole IV he’d had in his forearm had multiplied to several lines and he had something attached to his neck as well. Blood pressure cuff, pulse ox and yes, the dreaded catheter. Plus, worryingly more equipment had been wheeled in, lined up against the wall, ready just in case.

_What did that drug do to me? Am I dying?_

Mac could hear his heart rate increase on the monitor, racing into triple figures as he started panicking. _Why_ _am I_ _alone?_

Two doctors entered his room, deep in discussion.

“What’s happening?” Mac asked them, trying to keep his voice steady.

“We’re going to have to make some difficult decisions soon.” One said to the other, completely ignoring Mac.

“Hey!” Mac called angrily, tugging on the restraints weakly.

“He’s going to need surgery and we’ll have to remove the affected organs.” The other doctor replied, agreeing with his colleague.

“What?” Mac gasped. He couldn’t get enough air. “What are you doing? No. No, you’re not doing anything until you answer me!”

“Are you sure we need to do something that drastic? It’ll severely impact his quality of life.”

“We have to remove a quarter to save him. It’s the only way to ensure he lives.”

“Talk to me!” Mac shouted. Alarms were going off on his monitors now. The cacophony of noise didn’t bother the doctors though. The one nearest removed a syringe from his pocket and approached Mac. As he uncapped it, his sleeve fell down revealing a tattoo of Codex’s symbol.

“No! Get away from me, get--”

* * *

Mac gasped deeply, scrabbling back on the bed and sitting up. There was just one IV in his arm and he ripped it out, before turning his attention to the three leads snaking under the collar of his scrub top.

“Mac!” Desi shouted, surprised, as the monitor emitted a monotone. Her hands grasped his, holding them firm and stilling them. “Calm down, you’re okay, you’re safe!”

He looked around. No doctors, no restraints. The blanket he’d been kicking against was pooled in his lap. He wasn’t attached to anything any more. His heart was hammering but he could breathe just fine.

“I want to go home, Desi.” He said. “I’m not staying here any longer.”

Desi looked into his eyes, before nodding. Mac relaxed slightly as realised he wouldn’t need to put up a fight. She understood. She might not understand why exactly, but she understood. Grabbing a few tissues off the bedside table she pressed them to his bleeding arm and put his other hand over the top.

“Put pressure on that, I’ll go find a doctor.”

He nodded and tried to take some deep breaths to calm himself.

“It was just a dream.” He whispered.

* * *

When they got home, Desi cut off his attempt to go to the lounge and directed him towards his bed. Mac didn’t have the energy to protest but there were far fewer distractions in the bedroom, at least on the sofa he could mindlessly watch a documentary.

He didn’t really want to stay awake. He didn’t really want to go to sleep. He didn’t know what he would to wake up to, dream or reality. Or which would be worse.

He closed his eyes. It wouldn’t fool Desi, but at least she wouldn’t ask him any questions if she thought he was at least trying to get to sleep. He felt the bed dip as she sat down next to him.

Desi gently pushed his hair off his forehead and started running her fingers through his hair. She kept her touch light with long, gentle strokes and it worked wonders on his residual headache. He took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh, relaxing further into the soft pillows that smelled of home.

This was okay, he thought as he balanced on the edge, not really awake, not asleep. He felt calmer and safer than he had in days.

Quietly, Desi started singing. Mac felt a soft smile tug at his lips, soup and singing, it was how the Nguyen family dealt with emotional distress.

Slowly.

Gradually.

Mac finally slipped into a dreamless sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I really really liked this episode. I hope you liked this addition to it and I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)


End file.
